Just like the wind
by matsujunchann
Summary: Uchiha Sasuke finds out that a certain pink-haired girl is just like the wind. One-Shot.


Disclaimer: Anything you might recognize does not belong to me.

* * *

**Just like the wind.**

By MatsuJun-chan

--

"She's back. She came home." The whispers was overly loud and tinged with something close to fear. Or respect. Uchiha Sasuke couldn't really decide which. He'd been hearing the same gossip for several hours and it was always said in the same hushed tones. He'd always been one that hated to admit to curiosity so he wasn't about to stoop to asking, not after he had made such a point of insisting on absolute privacy since he arrived two years ago.

The market was the center of the village and most of the gossip originated there and then spread like wildfire. The Uchiha heir decided he needed a few things before he went home. He stopped by a small grocery stand. He hadn't been there for more than two minutes when he heard it again. "Have you heard? She's back." The same hushed whisper, the same awe and respect.

Takamoto, owner of the stand was spilling out gossip as she normally did, instead of paying attention to her work. It usually drove him crazy to have to wait, but this time he lingered by the bread rack in the hope of learning more of the mysterious person who had finally returned.

"Are you sure, Taka-san?" A blonde-haired woman asked, dragging her four-year-old closer to her and nearly strangling the child with her hug. "Are the others back too?"

"Oh, I'm certain, all right. She came right into the store as real as you please and bought a ton of groceries. She was back at her parents' house she said. She didn't say anything about the others, but if one shows up the others aren't far behind."

The blonde-haired woman looked around, lowered her voice another octave. "Was she still… you know?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Everyone always annoyed the hell out of him. These people were just plain idiots. He let his breath out in a rush of impatience.

"What could it mean?" the woman asked. "She only comes back when something is going to happen."

"I asked her if everything was all right and she just smiled in that way she has and said yes. You wouldn't want me to pry into her business, now would you dear," Takamoto said piously.

Sasuke let his breath out in a hissing rush of impatience. Takamoto made it her life's work to pry into everyone's business. Why should this absent person be excluded? Sasuke had enough of gossip. If they weren't going to say anything worth hearing, he was going to get the hell out of there before Takamoto turned her spotlight on him. He plunked his groceries down on the counter and looked as bored as he could manage. "I'm in a hurry." he said, hoping to facilitate matters and avoid the usual match-making she always tried.

"Why Sasuke-kun, how lovely to see you. Have you met Yamamoto Shiyuki? Shiyuki is a wonderful woman, a native of our town. She works over at the tea house. Have you ever been there yet? The tea is very good."

"So I've heard," he muttered, barely glancing at Shiyuki to acknowledge the introduction.

"Oh! There she is!" Takamoto exclaimed.

Sasuke followed Takamoto's gaze toward the other end of the street. Two familiar women emerged among the crowd but only one made his heart stop completely.

The raven-haired man straightened himself from the initial shock.

Sakura's back. Sakura's back and no one told him. That hurt him, tore up his insides so that his gut churned and a terrible weight pressed on his chest.

--

--

--

He saw her occasionally. He saw her once leaving Ino's shop smiling to herself. He wished to know what she was smiling about.

He saw her again, later that day. She was walking down the street with Naruto, hitting him playfully on the shoulder while the hyperactive blond laughed his ass off.

Once again, he wished to know what they were laughing about.

A few days later, he finally saw her by herself. She was standing outside the hospital, her arms were wide open and she was looking up to the dark sky.

He stopped on his tracks to stare at her. She was beautiful. He had always thought she was beautiful but now he had no words to describe what he was feeling.

Two long years.

Sakura fidgeted. Once she straightened herself, her breath-taking green eyes finally met his dark ones.

"Sasuke-kun…"

"Sakura." Sasuke cringed at the tone of his own voice. It came out rather loudly.

Sakura smiled softly, "You have grown taller. I didn't think it would be possible."

Sasuke clenched his jaw, "Hn."

"It's a nice night, isn't it?" she darted her gaze away from his toward the sky, "We can see the stars tonight."

Sasuke nodded shortly not taking his eyes away from her petit form.

"Hey… do you remember that day when the three of us tried to sneak into Kakashi-sensei room?" Sakura asked softly, "who would have thought that he'd wear that stupid mask while sleeping?"

"Hn… and you got caught while Naruto and I escaped in time."

She giggled.

And he watched her.

"How have you been?" the pink-haired girl asked, looking back at him. A small smile decorated her pale features.

Sasuke arched a dark elegant eyebrow, "Are you curious? Or are you just being polite?"

Sakura sighed softly, breaking eye contact.

"Why did you do it?" Sasuke asked, closing his hands into fists.

"Do what?" She whispered as she looked at her own feet.

"How could you do that? Without a warning… how could you disappear like that?"

Sakura green eyes instantly caught his intense gaze, "Funny. You should know better than anyone." Her words cut through the air like a sharp bloodied knife. She inhaled deeply before she carried on, "I thought… I could stay at your side."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked, swallowing dry.

"I thought… that once you came back… I'd be able to greet you with wide open arms." Sakura paused and hugged herself in a miserable attempt to keep herself warm, "But I just couldn't."

"What are you trying to say?" It hurt. It hurt even to breath. It burned his throat. His bloodstream seemed like it was on fire.

A long sigh escaped her lips, "Did you know, Sasuke-kun… that the wind, once it passes by, it can never go back to the same place?" Sakura smiled a sad smile when he did not respond.

"Hey."

Sakura looked behind her shoulder. Instant relief was spread over her features once she spotted her best-friend. "Hey. Ready to go?"

"Yeah…" Ino replied somewhat hesitantly as her blue eyes stared at the quiet raven-haired boy.

Both girls walked in his direction.

Sasuke stood motionless as she walked past him without even sparing him a glance. But he could have sworn that he heard the wind whisper.

*

_You should have kept her love inside a jar._

_* _

_You should have taken it with you._

_* _

_**No.**_

_You should have never left in the first place._


End file.
